LONDON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Barclays Plc said GerryGrimstone, one of the most prominent figures in Britain'sfinancial services industry, will become its deputy chairman atthe start of next year.
Grimstone, chairman of insurer Standard Life, willbecome a Barclays non-executive director and its seniorindependent director and deputy chairman from Jan. 1, replacingMichael Rake, the bank said on Monday.
Standard Life said Grimstone will continue as its chairman,a position he has held since May 2007. "There are no currentplans for him to stand down," a Standard Life spokesman said.
Standard Life is the 11th biggest investor in Barclays, witha 1.4 percent holding, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Grimstone is also a board member of accounting firm Deloitteand the lead non-executive at the Ministry of Defence. Hepreviously spent 13 years with Schroders, where he wasvice chairman of its investment bank, and has held other publicsector roles, including at HM Treasury.
Rake has been a director at Barclays for eight years andwill step down from that role on Dec. 31, Barclays said.
Barclays has been hunting for a new deputy chairman sinceRake said in July he would become chairman of Worldpay,the payments company that listed last month. Regulators werekeen for Rake to remain in place as Barclays' deputy chairmanwhile the bank was without a chief executive to prevent ChairmanJohn McFarlane having too much influence.
Rake has been Barclays' deputy chairman since July 2012 andrecently oversaw the search for a new CEO and the appointment ofJes Staley to that position.
Grimstone said he was looking forward to supportingMcFarlane and Staley to complete "the cultural transformation ofBarclays and accelerate the delivery of sustainable shareholderreturns." (Reporting by Steve Slater and Carolyn Cohn, editing by LouiseHeavens)